Surely the main religious division is one within religion (which cuts across denominational boundaries) -- between liberal and conservative faiths. The question is whether liberal faiths can successfully compete with conservative ones.
On one hand, those who might have joined and become active in liberal faith communities (had they been born earlier) are increasingly choosing "no religion": "One of the most dramatic changes recorded by the survey is the sharp increase in the number of Americans who do not subscribe to any religion (a category that includes atheists, agnostics, humanists, secularists and those who do not identify with any religion). Their number has more than doubled from 14 million in 1990 (8 percent of the total population) to 29 million in 2001 (14 percent), and seems to be trending further upward. Of those professing no religion, 35 percent are between the ages of 18 and 29, while only 8 percent are over the age of 65. Looks like the next generation isn't only choosing their religion, their losing it as well" ("One Nation, Under God? - U.S. Religious Demographic Information," American Demographics, <http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m4021/is_2002_Jan_1/ai_82264532>, 1 Jan. 2002). If they are inclined to "spirituality" at all, they are probably like Chris, Joanna, and Dennis here, who aren't joiners and would rather go mushrooming (cf. <http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/pipermail/lbo-talk/Week-of-Mon-20050613/012450.html>) on their merry individualist ways. :->
On the other hand, liberal faiths, which sharply limit their epistemological claims to coexist with science and restrain their socio-political ambitions within the scope of political liberalism, are hardly distinguishable from secular humanism in practice -- hence they fail to attract those who want religion in a robust sense (without being able to intellectually satisfy "atheists, agnostics, humanists, secularists and those who do not identify with any religion" enough to lead them to join them) . That failure shows as net losses in their membership:
<blockquote>EXHIBIT 7 Number of Adults by Current and Prior Religious Identification, 2001 (Weighted Estimate) Name of Group Current Net Gain
Number (Loss) Catholic 50,873,000 -9% Baptist 33,830,000 -1% NO RELIGION 29,481,000 23% Christian 14,190,000 11% Methodist 14,140,000 -7% Lutheran 9,580,000 -1% Presbyterian 5,596,000 -2% Protestant 4,647,000 -14% Pentecostal 4,407,000 16% Episcopalian/Anglican 3,451,000 5% Jewish* 2,831,000 -4% Mormon 2,787,000 0% Churches of Christ 2,503,000 -2% Non-denominational 2,489,000 37% Congregational/UCC 1,378,000 -6% Jehovah's Witnesses 1,331,000 11% Assemblies of God 1,105,000 7% Muslim/Islamic 1,104,000 8% Buddhist 1,082,000 12% Evangelical/Born Again 1,032,000 42% Church of God 944,000 241,296 5% Seventh Day Adventist 724,000 11%
*NOTE: Only Jews by religion are included in the analysis.
("The American Religious Identification Survey 2001," <http://www.gc.cuny.edu/faculty/research_studies/aris.pdf>, 19 Dec. 2001, p. 24)</blockquote> -- Yoshie
* Critical Montages: <http://montages.blogspot.com/> * Monthly Review: <http://monthlyreview.org/> * Greens for Nader: <http://greensfornader.net/> * Bring Them Home Now! <http://www.bringthemhomenow.org/> * Calendars of Events in Columbus: <http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/calendar.html>, <http://www.freepress.org/calendar.php>, & <http://www.cpanews.org/> * Student International Forum: <http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/> * Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osudivest.org/> * Al-Awda-Ohio: <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Al-Awda-Ohio> * Solidarity: <http://www.solidarity-us.org/>